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Joined
Aug 4, 2006
Real Name
Margaret
About My Library

For many years I kept a record of my reading in a collection of exercise books, which I began when I was 14. My LT library is an attempt to list all the books I've ever read in the past 50 plus years.

Ratings:
½ or 1 mean I absolutely hated it
1½ or 2 mean I didn't enjoy it although others might
2½ or 3 mean it was ok but I won't re-read
3½ or 4 mean I really enjoyed it, might re-read it
4½ or 5 mean it was brilliant, it's on my favourites list and I've probably re-read it several times

Top Five of 2013
1. London Belongs to Me - Norman Collins
2. Call for the Dead - John LeCarre
3. Hope and Glory - Stuart Maconie
4. Glittering Images - Susan Howatch
5. Wilkie Collins - Peter Ackroyd

Top 10 of 2014 (in A/Z order)
The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Come, tell me how you live by Agatha Christie
Hungry Hill by Daphne DuMaurier
Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
Starlight ) by Stella Gibbons
Westwood )
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch

I have read 134 books this year. 2015's target is 140.

2015 LIST (A/Z ORDER OF AUTHOR)
Uncommon Danger - Ambler
The Finger and the Moon - Ashe
Sharpe's Waterloo - Cornwell
Queen's Play - Dunnett
A Week in December - Faulks
A Question of Identity - Hill
Berlin Noir - Kerr
Stepford Wives - Levin
The Blackhouse - May
Paying Guests - Waters

I've read 164 books this year!

2016 I re-read many of my books with a view to downsizing, and disposed of about 200 volumes. I have read 107 books this year.

BEST BOOKS OF 2016:
The Cazalet Chronicles (5 vols) - E J Howard
End of the Chapter - N Blake
How to be a Tudor - R Goodman
Howards End is on the landing - S Hill (R)
The Soul of Discretion - S Hill
Big Sleep and other novels - R Chandler (R)
Rule Britannia - D DuMaurier (R)
Watership Down - R Adams (R)
Dying Light - S MacBride

2017
The downsizing project has been completed.
Books read in 2017 = 105

BEST BOOKS OF 2017 R = RE-READ

Jane Eyre - C Bronte (R)
What a Carve Up! - J Coe (R)
The Manchurian Candidate - Condon
Howards End - E M Forster (R)
Jacobs Room is full of books - S Hill
Lost Horizon - J Hilton (R)
The Russia House - LeCarre
A Legacy of Spies - LeCarre
Scatter the Bones - S MacBride
The Secret History - D Tartt (R)
A Country Child - A Uttley (R)

Books read in 2018 = 116

Best Books of 2018
Re-reads:
Rebecca (F)
Death in Ecstacy (F)
Regeneration trilogy (F)
Flight from the Enchanter (F)

New titles:
Park Life (NF)
Road to Little Dribbling (NF)
Book of Forgotten Authors (NF)
20thC Yokel (NF)
Wildflowers of Britain (NF)
The Galton Case (F)
The Dark Chronicles (F)
The Eagle has landed (F)
The Kings general (F)

2019
106 titles read this year - a slow year for several reasons.

Best of year list:
New books:

Cassandra Darke - Simmonds
Middle England - Coe
Eagle of the Ninth - Sutcliff
Comforts of Home - Hill
Rich: the life of Richard Burton - Bragg
Living with the Gods - Mac Gregor

Re-reads
The Bell - Murdoch
The Unicorn - Murdoch
The Go-Between - Hartley
The Moving Finger - Christie

2020 reading
A very strange year, with a lot of comfort re-reading.
119 books

Best Books Of 2020
New titles:
The Odessa File-F Forsyth
Four Days in June -I.Gale
The Benefit of Hindsight-S. Hill
Dance Hall of the Dead -T. Hillerman
No Talking after Lights - A Lambert
The Shapes of Sleep - J B Priestley
Anne Boleyn the Haunted Queen - A Weir
Re-reads:
The Magus - J Fowles (R)
The Stand - S King (R)
The Balkan Trilogy - O Manning (R)

Books read in 2021:

125 books

best books of 2021
N Balchin-The small back room
P Barker Toby’s room
K Follett-The evening and the morning
F Forsyth-Day of the jackal
G Heyer-these old shades
H Mantel-Mirror and the light
J Mortimer-Summer’s lease
S J Parris-Execution
P Simmonds-Gemma Bovary
M Walker-Death in the Dordogne
S Sanghera- Empireland (NF)

Re-read: Honeycombe-Dragon under the hill


2022 reading total = 111

Best Books of 2022

The Untouchable - Banville

Murder before Evensong - Coles

Crooked Heart - Evans

Old Baggage - Evans

Jim Chee Mysteries - Hillerman

China - Rutherford

Conspiracy - Parris

Crowded Grave - Walker

Mist over Pendle - Neill (RR)

One two three four - Brown (NF)

Ancestors - Roberts (NF)

Books read in 2023

92 as of 11 Oct 2023

About Me
Retired chartered librarian. I worked in university, FHE college and secondary education. Married, mother of two children and granny to one grandson.


Location
Croydon, UK
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